The CEO of the EXMO exchange house, Pavel Lerner, was released after being kidnapped on December 26. The rescue of the businessman was made after the payment of more than 1 million dollars canceled with bitcoins to the perpetrators.

The information on the total amount of the payment was disseminated by the Financial Times and was reviewed by other media , where the Ukrainian consultant Anton Geraschenco was quoted, who stated that Lerner was "released in shock" and added: "we have operational information that paid more than $ 1 million in bitcoins . "

The exchange office issued an official statement on the events where, in addition to reporting the chronology of the kidnapping and the release of Lerner, it is stressed that it is safe and without physical damage ; to which they add that it is in a state of "great tension" so it will not comment on what happened for a while.

On December 26, Pavel was captured by a group of masked strangers and all connection with him ceased for several days. On December 29, we managed to contact Pavel. At this time he is safe and there was no physical damage inflicted on him. However, Pavel is currently in a state of great tension, therefore, will not make any official comment in the coming days.

EXMO

In addition to regretting the abduction of its CEO, the EXMO team emphasized that this event did not compromise the functioning of the exchange house and that the funds of the clients were kept safe, while the operations would continue in a "usual" manner.

"We would like to point out that Pavel's activity in EXMO did not imply access to financial assets of our users. In spite of the above, the platform continues with its usual operations ", the communication emphasizes.

The event occurred in Kiev , capital of Ukraine, where the specialist in blockchain and cryptocurrencies was. A local media said that according to the police report, the incident happened at noon on Tuesday. Lerner was forced to enter a Mercedes-Benz car, model Vito, by subjects dressed in black and hidden behind balaclavas.

Already at the beginning of November there was a criminal event associated with cryptoactives. On that occasion it was on the streets of New York City that the theft of 1.8 million ethers took place . The crime was committed by two subjects. One of them carried a firearm and forced the victim into a vehicle. The assailants managed to get their cell phone, their wallet and the keys to their apartment. This allowed them to compromise the security of the affected computer and appropriate the cryptocurrencies.